New swimsuit styles from Miami

Hotter than a heat wave, the latest swimsuit styles hit the runway as one of the largest swimwear trade shows kicked off on July 18.

For the ninth year, thousands of fashion industry buyers, editors and onlookers ventured to Miami's South Beach to view the latest styles during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim.

This year's five-day event marked the first time that customers were able to view some of the shows via livestreaming and preorder straight from the runway on swimwear retailer Everything But Water's website.

The program enables the company's buyers to get an early read on consumer reaction to the new suit styles.

"Certainly, this is the first time that we will have a customer reaction early on before we finalize the orders for the resort season on the part of an actual customer," said Sabra Krock, the company's co-owner and creative director. "We'll be able to see what they react to and what they buy."

At stake is a swimwear industry worth $4.2 billion, up 0.4 percent over last year for the period ended in May, according to data from market-research firm NPD Group. Women's sales, which declined about 0.9 percent over last year, made up the majority of this market.